Human Functions?
by Kkins1812
Summary: This story has OC's as sort of main characters okay? Naruto and the group get called for a mission? Looking after teenage ANBU?
1. Making Friends?

**A/N Right okay I got really bored. So this came up. It's kind of jumpy I think :L Dedications to Heika-chan, R-chan, Rai-chan, Cazzatron, Hozza McB and Calum the sheep. They let me put them in the story. Hope you enjoy. It's in Naruto's pv. So when I say "about my height" I mean like 5"5. I'm not going to tell who each of them are. They'll know who they are. ;) **

**Aoi (Ah-o-ee)= Blue**

**Kotori= bird of luck**

**Himeko= princess child**

**Hotaru= firefly**

**Tsukiko= moon child**

**Ai= love**

**Ryuu= dragon**

_Okay why did granma Tsunade want to see me? I don't do solo missions and she knows that…_

I reached the Hokage's office door and knocked twice.

"ENTER." I pushed the door open to find a whole line of shinobi. Sakura, Sai, Shikamaru, Tenten, Kiba, Lee, Neji…. Actually most of my group were there. The only exception being Choji who was in hospital for extreme indigestion. _Typical of him really…_ Even Gai, Kakashi and Yamato were there as well. _Kami what type of mission was this?_ My attention was snapped up by Tsunade.

"Naruto your late. Kakashi was even here before you…" I was about to argue back but Tsunade started again. " It doesn't matter now your all here. This mission isn't like any other mission you've had before." _Jeez…. No-one has had it? Must be super special awesome then…._ My face broke into a huge grin.

"Your going to be looking after a group of teenage ANBU recruits." My jaw hit the floor.

"YOU WANT US TO DO WHAT GRANMA?"

"Shut up Naruto!" she retaliated. "Now these girls have come from where Sai came from. You have to look after them."

"Hokage-sama? Why are they no longer in the ANBU anyways?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Good question Shikamaru." Shizune answered. "We believe they would function better as a specialist ninja squad. So we've taken them out of their ANBU squads and put them together."

"Yes that's why we need you guys. You need to teach them to function as normal humans okay?" Tsunade followed. She did the summoning hand signs and a large puff of smoke appeared. Five figures became visible through the smoke. The smoke cleared and we could get a better squint at them.

"Hokage-sama…" They all bowed towards Tsunade and then the rest of the group.

"Right, you bunch…" Tsunade strolled up to the first girl. "This is Hotaru." Hotaru was about my height, long brown hair and clear blue eyes. She was wearing the standard ninja uniform black trousers, shirt and a flak vest. Quite bland actually. Her ANBU tattoo wasn't visible.

"This is Himeko." She was substantially taller than the rest of them. She had short purple hair with a pink fringe and green eyes. She wore black leather,? trousers, black boots up to her knees, a net shirt with half of a long sleeved black t-shirt on top with a katana strapped to her back. Her ANBU tattoo was on her collar bone just poking out of her top. Next in line was a girl about my height again, with short black hair, her eyes were black as well it was kind of scary. She wore a stripy long sleeved shirt, the sleeves so long you couldn't see her hands and black trousers. Her tattoo was also not visible.

"This is Tsukiko." Granma Tsunade went on. "This is…."

"Aoi…." Yamato interrupted Tsunade on realising on what he had done he apologised. Aoi gave him a smile and a little wave. She wore short black shorts, a net shirt with a black tank top over it and an open flak vest. She had a leg holster and blue hand wraps. She carried two sai's crossed on her back. Her ANBU tattoo was just visible on her neck. It was being hidden by spikey, medium length brown hair with red streaked through the fringe. Her eyes didn't seem to have a distinguishable colour just a mix of blue and green. She was also quite tall. Taller than me but not as tall as the giant down the line.

"Hey Sai, she's got two of you on her back and she has a boy's name." I giggled down the line to an un-amused Sai. Suddenly metal was caressing my throat and a body pressed up behind me.

"Care to say that again, squirt?" she whispered in my ear.

"As much as I want you too Aoi. You can't." Tsunade said. Several people had cracked a smile if not already in a giggling fit.

"Sorry Hokage-sama" Aoi bowed and got back into line.

"I like her. She's feisty." Kiba splurted out under fits of giggles. _Right it's so on now….._

"And finally this is Kotori." Okay this one was a short stack compared to everyone else. And she had the biggest boobs. She made Aoi ,standing next to her, look as flat as a ten year old boy. She might even have surpassed Tsunade. She wore black trousers, and white t-shirt with short grey sleeves. Her tattoo was clearly visible on her left upper arm. She had longish dirty blonde hair and brown sparkly eyes.

"Right I'm not going to be needing all of you at the moment. Just one per person to show them around town and what not. They have their own apartments and they know the basics and what not, but they need friend more or less…" Tsunade spoke. "Kakashi, you've got Kotori. Go!" Kakashi strolled over to Kotori and motioned his hand towards the door. "Shikamaru your on Hotaru…" Hotaru started walking towards the door, Shikamaru sighed heavily and followed after her. "Lee, Tsukiko. Go. Now."

"YES MA'AM!" Lee gave a salute and then flashed his killer smile. He went up to Tsukiko and started to pull her away while introducing himself. She was blushing and not looking happy. _Poor girl stuck with_ _that dangleberrie... _Suddenly an ANBU appeared in the Hokage's office in a puff of smoke.

"Hokage-sama.." He bowed. He was wearing the normal ANBU get- up and a samurai on his back. His mask was a dragon and his hair, which was dirty blonde, was spiked out in all direction at the back.

"Ryuu, what is it?" Tsunade asked.

"He wants to speak to you…" he replied

"Alright let me finish up here first." He bowed and was gone in a puff of smoke. Aoi and Himeko were standing whispering to each other and smiling.

"Right you two." Tsunade interrupted. They immediately straightened up. "Kiba, your on Himeko and Sakura you with Aoi. Now the rest of you can go and tag along with whoever you want but you don't have too. Just make them feel at home, okay?" Everyone nodded. "Okay your all dismissed." Himeko walked up to Kiba and petted Akamaru. Kiba, Shino and Himeko all left along with everyone else apart from Sakura, myself, Sai and Aoi. Aoi walked up to Sakura and hugged her, repeated that action with Sai then me, to my disgust. She smiled and started pulling Sakura to the door.

"Hey do you know anywhere that does good ramen?" she asked Sakura. "I'm starving." She smiled and started laughing. _I'm starting to like her she likes ramen…_

"Well there's Ichiraku's?" I said. She turned around, smiled and motioned for me to lead the way.

"Ah that was some good ramen." Aoi sighed patting her stomach. She paid for us all as a "thank-you" for showing her where it was. She got up and started strolling away.

"Hey! Where do you think your going?" Sakura shouted after her while trying to catch up.

"Just a walk round to familiarise myself with the place." Aoi replied. Hotaru, Shikamaru and Ino were walking in the opposite direction. Aoi ran towards Hotaru and glomped her which was returned in the opposite direction.

"Hey guys.." Shikamaru waved at us. "Are we the first group you ran into? Cause we've seen everyone else. They wanna go for a meal and a drink later. You in? According to Himeko, Aoi knows a bar at the end of town that does good food?" he said. Aoi's face lit up in a big smile. We waved bye to our friends and started our tour again. We saw groups of our friends who all received a smile and a hug from Aoi. At some point in this Sakura and Aoi had left so I stuck with Kakashi, Gai and Kotori? I think her name was? She was nice to talk to. She wasn't patronising or lazy like Aoi, she put thought and interest into our conversation asking about me and what not. I found out her chakra nature was lightening. Like Kakashi. She told me everyone else's as well Aoi's was water and lightening. She was one of the rarities that had two chakra natures like Yamato. Hotaru was a wind chakra, like me and also a rare type. Himeko was earth and Tsukiko was fire. She told me that they had grown up together and they were like a group of sisters. She told what their personalities were like. She told me Himeko was rather lazy and took the back road in most things. But she was the brains of the operation, like Shikamaru. She was also very relaxed about things but fought very well. She fought at medium to long range. Kotori assured me that Tsukiko wasn't as scary as she appeared, she was very nice and cared very deeply for people. She was the long range fighter and weapons master of the team. Hotaru was the team captain because she was quite calm and collected and didn't panic in tight situations. But she had quite a bad temper. She also could cheer anyone up if they were feeling down. She also had a good sense of humour. I asked Kotori what she was. She smiled and told me she was the team medic and a medium range fighter. She liked reading and liked it when people were happy. She was also was the only one who could snap Aoi out of her change. She saw me looking very confused.

"So you haven't worked it out yet?" She laughed. "Aoi has a split personality. There's normal Aoi who is funny, patronising, lazy and happy, then if someone says something that really pisses her off she snaps. We call that part "Black Aoi" like earlier you commented on her name and made fun of her weapons. You snapped her and she nearly killed you for it."

"But it's was Granma Tsunade that told her to stop and she did?" I interrupted her a little confused.

"Well of course. She's an ANBU member you never disobey the wishes of the Hokage." Kotori went on to tell me that Aoi was the only one that fought at close range. She could do all ranges but she was just the best at Tai-jutsu and short jutsu attacks. She also played the bait most of the time, she played with the enemy until the very last minute when everyone else jumped in. She also takes risk for the team, like if Himeko had to think of another plan Aoi would go as a diversion to create time. She got banged up a lot of the time. And spent lot of time in the hospital. So she was a nicer person than I had originally thought. I felt really bad about judging her early and I told Kotori I felt like that. She just laughed and told me not to worry about because Aoi didn't really care what people thought about her and she wasn't one for holding grudges.

They were all sitting round a big table in the restaurant Aoi recommended. They were being served by a young waitress called Ai. She had bright blonde almost yellow hair and glittering blue eyes. She was cheery and bubbly when taking our orders. Ai came back and placed all our drinks on the table. Aoi was taking a sip out of her cranberry and vodka mix when Lee started up on a speech on how alcohol was very un-youthful. Aoi laughed at him and told him to piss off and that she would drink whatever she wanted. But he refused to give up and the next thing I knew Lee was yelping as two sai's were crossed on his throat and Aoi was on the table. Kotori tugged at Aoi's shoes and gave her a pleading look. The anger instantly disappeared from Aoi's eyes. I could see what Kotori was talking about when she said she could snap Aoi out of it. Ai walked over with our food on a tray.

"Aoi, sweetheart? Can you please sit back down in your seat so I can serve you your meal?" Ai asked in a sickly sweet voice. Aoi jumped down off the table hugged Ai and apologised for the scene she had caused. Ai laughed and hugged her back with one hand while skilfully holding a full tray in the other. Aoi sat back down in her seat while Ai placed various meals around the table. The rest of the night was quite enjoyable. Very funny at points like when Lee was looking very un-comfortable when Aoi had her arm around him laughing and joking, then Aoi making a joke about Lee and Tsukiko hooking up which earned her lots of laughter, Lee squirting his orange juice out his nose and a death glare from Tsukiko. _I think I'm gonna like having this lot as my friends…._


	2. Confession?

It had been a couple of weeks since the new ANBU members had been introduced to Naruto and his friends. They were getting along like a house on fire. They were all having drinks at Aoi's bar again, laughing, joking, messing with Ai, once stopping Aoi killing Lee again and generally having a good time apart from Tsukiko who sat with a scowl on her face. The party was interrupted by the spikey haired dragon ANBU who appeared in a puff of smoke.

"Hokage-sama requests the presence of Squad Stella and Team Kakashi at once." He bowed once and was gone again in a puff of smoke. Members of both teams looked around at each other confused. They all got up dazed and headed towards the Hokage building. They reached Tsunade's room and Kakashi rapped his knuckles on the door.

"Enter!" They all filed in and stood in line. "Right you've all gotten to know each other pretty well now. Right?" Tsunade asked. Everyone nodded. "Good, because now you are all being sent on a mission together. This is Squad Stella first mission together as this squad, so Team Kakashi? You'll be backing them up. Everyone is under Hotaru's command, so cough Naruto don't do anything she doesn't tell you to do. Got it?"

Naruto scrunched his face up in disapproval and Sakura elbowed him in the ribs. Shizune handed Hotaru a scroll with the details of the mission on it. Hotaru opened it and scanned though the writing.

"So, you want us to re-cover information from a possibly hazardous group of rouge ninjas?" Hotaru questioned.

"Exactly. This information is valuable to the safety of Konoha and Suna. Once you've obtained it. Send it back to the village and to the Kazekage we'll then decide what further action to take. It may be the case that you have to take them out." Everyone looked at each other with the same expression. "You'll be leaving at dawn. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Was the collective shout.

"But Hokage-sama there isn't a location on this. Where are they based?" was Hotaru's confused tone.

"Right, well the thing is…" Shizune laughed awkwardly and broke out in a blush. "We're not exactly sure where they are."

"WHAT!" Naruto shouted annoyed.

"Calm down Naruto!" Tsunade raised her voice at him. "We know what general area they are in but we don't have the pin point exact location." She explained.

"And they call us ninjas and we don't even know where they are?" Naruto started arguing.

"Well every ninja we have sent has been brought back in paralysis of shock." Shizune said nervously obviously not wanting to piss Naruto off further. Aoi started staring into space with a blank expression. Kotori had to tug on her wrist a couple of times to bring her back.

"Everyone go home pack and rest for tomorrow." Tsunade commanded. Everyone bowed and spilled out of the office and nodded at the ANBU on guard. Everyone went their separate ways outside the Hokage building. Naruto started walking home and after some serious staring in to space he realised he was staring at Aoi's back. He ran to catch up with her.

"Hey!" He said startling her.

"Oh. Hey." She replied smiling.

"So do live up this neck of the woods?" Naruto said stupidly, grinning.

"Yeah, just up there in that apartment block." Aoi pointed at a large building.

"Cool live in the apartments just down the road." Naruto pointed at a building a little down from the one Aoi had pointed out. They arrived outside Aoi's apartment block and she invited him up. Aoi lived in a two roomed apartment the second room being the bathroom. The other room was massive with a window stretching from one end of the room to the other. The sun was setting over the horizon and the window framed it perfectly. There was a large built in wardrobe at one end of the room next to the bathroom and a kitchen in the opposite corner. Next to the kitchen was a square plot of dirt. Naruto went to inspect the kitchen after he'd pulled off his sandals.

"Watch it!" Aoi shouted making Naruto freeze. "Don't stand on my pumpkins." She said guiding him round the plot of earth. Naruto was looking a little confused and was begin to think she was weird all over again but didn't saying anything in fear for his life as he was alone with Aoi, no Hokage or Kotori to control her black side. What Naruto also found strange was that Aoi had no furniture apart from a bookshelf over flowing with books. No sofa, coffee table, stuff that normal humans need for every day life.

"Do you want a drink?" Naruto's attention was pulled away from the empty room to Aoi standing in her kitchen with her head in the fridge. At some point she had pulled off her shoes and pulled on a pair of bright pink fluffy socks with butterflies on them.

"Ermm….. Milk please? If you have any?" Naruto stuttered in her direction. She pulled out a big carton of milk and two glasses from a cabinet on the wall. She poured the milk and re-placed it back in the fridge. She walked over and handed Naruto both glasses and went over to the wardrobe and pulled two large cushions out and placed them in front of the window. She took one of the glasses back and sat down on one of the cushions. She turned and smiled and waved her hand at the other cushion inviting him to sit down. He sat down and sprawled his legs over the floor in front of him watching the sun set. They sat in silence for a while until Naruto broke the quiet.

"So what's your lot's deal?" He said seriously. Aoi gave him a confused look. "I mean your threatening some-one's well being each day, Kotori doesn't seem to talk about herself much, Tsukiko is always in a bad mood, Himeko seems full of it and Hotaru is always running after you lot." Aoi took a moment to think about it then started to speak

"Well we came from ANBU so we were under strict discipline and training all the time. We're all fairly normal I suppose we're just missing some sort of human formality I suppose. Like Sai when you met him had no emotions. We were all orphans, Kotori and I have been with the ANBU as long as we can remember. Himeko joined then Hotaru then Tsukiko she's the newest. We grew up together so we're like sisters and we all have back stories. Kotori was from a small village in the mountains that was burnt down by bandits, Kotori's mother brought her here to the leaf where she was put in the ANBU's institute. Himeko's parents abandoned her; the same with Hotaru and Tsukiko's clan was slaughtered. So we all became ANBU." Aoi replied feeling like a great weight had been lifted.

"So what are the human things or problems you have?" Naruto looking very interested.

"You really wanna know…?" Aoi asked hesitantly. Naruto nodded eagerly. "Well Kotori doesn't trust anyone with her problems. She trusts people but not with her own problems. She keeps everything locked away. Himeko doesn't know fear therefore she doesn't have common sense in some things and doesn't hold back in others. Tsukiko doesn't know happiness and Hotaru is over-protective of us all. We're her family and she doesn't want to lose us anytime soon." Aoi looked almost pained.

"So what's wrong with you?" Naruto feeling sorry for the burden they all had to carry of course he was an orphan too but he had a nice life he didn't grow up with out any emotions and he didn't have the hard life of ANBU training. Aoi looked him straight in the eye.

"I live in fear….. For everyone I love. I have a bad side, I know I do, and it does terrible damage, it will kill instantly if it wants too…." Tears were streaming down Aoi's cheeks. It was clear that something had obviously happened in the past. Naruto instinctively pulled Aoi in to a tight grip, holding her to him as close as he could get. He just let her weep on his chest until she fell asleep. He laid her down gently and walked over to where she had pulled her cushions. He slide the door open and sure enough there was a futon in there with pillows and a cover. He pulled it all out sorted it and placed her fragile body on the futon and pulled the covers over her. He wiped away a tear that was left on her cheek and let himself out. He went home and slept only for a couple of hours. He then sat and waited for the sun rise.

**A/N Hey guys yeah this probably should have been at the beginning of the chapter but I forgot okay? n/n Okay so this one isn't in Naruto's point of view. Yes Aoi is growing pumpkins in her house. They get lots of light don't freak out tree huggers the massive window remember? She waters them all the time and sets jutsus on them when she's going to be away for a long time. So they are well looked after. There's no other reason for growing them she just likes the colour and like making Jack o lanterns. Yes I know she is me I'm a sad child. I am actually growing pumpkins. ^-^ This chapter was a funny one for me cause it didn't go the way I wanted it to go but I happy with the way it did. Next chapter won't be in any one's point of view either. The next chapter won't be up for a while I've got school stuff to do and I suppose it'll be a big chapter as well. This fanfic is longer than I planned :L **

**p.s. *spoiler* The slaughtered clan that was mentions was the Uchihas :O:O love you guys xxxx**


	3. Making Enemies?

**A/N: Ah fanfiction….. This chapter did not go the way I wanted it to at all. But I just went with the flow. The italics are Naruto's thoughts. **

**Iruka's disclaimer: Okay so Kai-sensei has not done a disclaimer yet so I'll do it for her before she gets in trouble…. Kkins does not own any of the Naruto characters that appear in this fanfiction, but she does own the OC's and a time turner.**

**Kkins: n/n thanks Ruru-chan…**

**Iruka: Where did you hear that? **

**Kkins: n/n *giggles* **

**Iruka: That's it your forbidden to talk to Kashi.**

**Kakashi: I didn't know we were on nicknames with out formalities now Ruru.**

**Kkins: *giggles like a maniac and falls off seat.* I like it when mummy and daddy fight.**

**Iruka: Okay Kkins your grounded. No fanfiction. And Kakashi sensei don't talk to me or her.**

**Kakashi: Ruru your words cut me deeply.**

**Kkins: But but… Mummy I'll never survive.**

**Iruka: You should've thought of that before. And don't call me that it's kinda creepy.. O_O**

Everyone had gathered at the gate to leave for their mission. Some still partly asleep, squinting in the breaking sun light. Others were hyper and raring to go and there was some that just couldn't care less one way or the other. Kotetsu and Izumo were on early morning guard duty. Kotetsu had his head on the desk and light snores were emanating from his hunched over body. Izumo was fighting to keep his eyes open as well. Sakura swaggered over to them and slammed her hands down on the desk almost breaking it. Kotetsu's head shot up and Izumo's chair fell backwards leaving his legs sprawling in the air and Kotetsu scrambling to help him up. Aoi was sleeping on Yamato's shoulder snoring in his ear. Kotori was standing day-dreaming beside Kakashi, Himeko was curled up with Kiba and Akamaru on the ground, Tsukiko was standing with a blank look on her face and Hotaru was talking over the plan with the other members of the team who weren't other wise occupied with sleep states. Naruto went over to wake Aoi up, he started shaking her violently until Yamato stopped him abruptly.

"Naruto are you trying to get us all killed?" He demanded. Naruto looked really confused and shook his head. "If you wake her too suddenly, she'll wake up as Black Aoi and it's a lot worse when in the sleep state. She becomes a better fighter." Yamato did that creepy face that Naruto hated. Naruto recoiled away from Yamato as far as possible. _She must be like Lee when he's drunk…._ Naruto walked over to Tsukiko and put an arm round her, she immediately stiffened to his touch.

" Good morninnnggg…" Naruto slurred, she turned around un-amused.

"Yeah? What's so good about it?" Tsukiko replied coldly and stalked away. _What a bitch!..._ Naruto thought to himself. He just stood there waiting for something. Then he realised there was a lot more people here than originally he expected. Hotaru was standing talking to Shikamaru and looked like they were discussing battle plans and Ino was trying to talk to Tsukiko but failing. Tsunade and Shizune appeared some time later.

"Right are you ready to go?" Tsunade commanded. Everyone stood in line, sort of. Himeko was scrambling off the ground with Kiba, Yamato was holding Aoi steady as she sleepily rubbed her eyes. It didn't look as though Kakashi or Kotori had moved. Tsukiko was looking very awkward between Ino and Sakura and Hotaru, Shikamaru and Sai strolled forward from where they were standing.

"Yes ma'am we are ready to go." Hotaru replied calmly.

"Good. Now people remember what I said." She looked at Naruto "Don't do anything Hotaru doesn't tell you to do." She said rather sternly. Naruto gave an un-amused groan. They started heading out the gate waving at Kotetsu and Izumo, the people that weren't going and the village in general. They knew this was a dangerous mission.

It was being to get dark, the teams had been travelling all day. They got to the edge of Tenchi forest the place where the rouges were supposedly based. Hotaru called everyone in.

"Right guys we're here. We're going to do some tracking and once we have an idea of where the ninjas are then we'll make camp for the night." She said

"WHAT?" Naruto disapproved. "If we know where they are why don't we just attack them?"

"Naruto. We are no good tired and we can't just charge in there we'll be slaughtered. We need to find out what we're up against." Himeko dropped in sounding serious and scarily like Shikamaru.

"Exactly." Hotaru backed up her team mate. "Kakashi we'll need your nin-ken."

"Right." Kakashi started making the summoning hand signs and a puff of smoke appeared.

"Aoi you too please." Aoi made the hand signs and the smoke dispatched soon after. A large white wolf with grey tips on the end of it's tail and ears stood next to Aoi. She smiled down at him and scratched his ears.

"Woah! I didn't know you could summon a dog!" Naruto looked on in amazement.

"Hey boss who's the brat? And can I eat him" The wolf spoke to Aoi in a gruff and growly voice and raised his big green eyes to meet hers.

"Afraid not Huyu. We'll probably need him at some point." Aoi chuckled towards the beast.

"Fine, but can I at least maim him." He looked at Aoi his eyes full of hope. Aoi just laughed, at this point Naruto was hiding behind Yamato using him as a shield with a terrified look on his face.

"It's alright Naruto. Just remember he's a wolf okay?" Aoi said in a re-assuring voice. She walked over to Naruto and patted him on the back, smiling.

"Kakashi? Aoi? You two head out and we'll be here waiting for your return." Kakashi and Aoi nodded at Himeko and shot off in opposite directions with their summons right behind them.

It was well into the night before the tracking team came back to camp. Kakashi and Aoi both landed at the same time at either end of camp. Aoi started laughing because of how perfect both their timings were. Aoi flopped down on top of Himeko who sighed and closed her eyes again. Aoi reached over to the bags, dug deep in hers and pulled out a bottle, an empty bottle. She rolled off a relieved Himeko and propped herself again a tree near the fire.

"Warm. Here. Now." Aoi demanded and Huyu strolled over and slumped himself down on top of her. She started making hand signs and a small bubble of water appeared in front of her, she burst it and all the water went in her empty bottle. She took a sip and sighed. Naruto could feel her chakra in the air. It didn't feel normal. If he were to compare it to colours everyone's would be blue and hers would be a violet purple colour. He found it very strange, but then again she was a strange person.

"Oh by the way Hotaru we got enough information to send it back to the villages." Aoi smiled over at her senpai. Hotaru just smiled and nodded. Aoi pushed Huyu off her who was not pleased, which he expressed in a growl, to Naruto's surprise Aoi growled back at him. He thought that was also quite strange. Aoi started scribbling on small pieces of parchment. After she had finished she made the summoning hand signs again._ She's got more wolves?_ Naruto thought but he was surprised to see two swallows appear.

"Hey boss." One of them chirped and both saluted her. She wrapped a message round each of the bird's legs and lifted them both on her arms.

"Right, Tsubame? I need you to go to Konoha and give this to Tsunade-sama. And Kousei? I need you to go to Suna and give this to their Kazekage. Got it?" Both swallows nodded and she threw both her arms in the air, and with that the swallows were off on their journey. "Now we just need to chill here 'til we get some orders." Aoi said happily. She sneaked back over to Huyu and jumped on him playfully, biting his ears and pulling his fur. He started fighting back and they started rolling around in the dirt until they bumped into Tsukiko who shot them death glares, they both whimpered and backed away. Tsukiko was sat under an old oak tree. She wasn't doing anything in particular but the aura around her was so dark that mushrooms were starting to form around her on the tree. Himeko was rummaging around in her bag until she triumphantly pulled out a hair brush and started brushing her hair. Kotori also thought this was a good idea; she dug around until she found one as well. But instead of brushing her own hair she crept up on Aoi and attacked her, pinning her on the ground. She started dragging the brush roughly through Aoi's wild mane. Aoi started kicking and screaming.

"This wouldn't happen if you brushed your hair like a normal person." Kotori said smugly. For being at least a head shorter than Aoi she had her pretty well restrained. Aoi was kicking and screaming under Kotori.

"Huyu help me now!" She screamed.

"Nah this is pretty funny to watch boss." He said with a wolfy chuckle.

"TRAITOR!" Aoi spat in his direction. Kakashi started giggling next to Yamato who was also looking very amused. "OI! What you think your laughing at, eh?" She snarled at Kakashi. " I bet that sorry state of a hair cut on you head hasn't seen a hair brush in years!" After some time, Aoi calmed down and stopped thrashing around.

"Are you going to sit nicely for me now?" Kotori said in a motherly voice. Aoi just nodded in defeat. Kotori let her up and she sat cross legged in front of her team mate. Huyu crawled forward submissively, with his ears flattened out and laid his head in Aoi's lap.

"Don't think I haven't forgotten. There's a river just up from here and you're getting a bath when I get up tomorrow." Aoi gazed down at her best friend with a smirk on her face. As soon as Kotori said she could go Aoi jumped up and ran behind Yamato and hid behind him, peeking over his shoulder occasionally. There was no way she was coming out of her hiding place with Kotori still wielding a hair brush. Everyone just pottered around, talking about anything and everything.

"So it's Halloween soon isn't it?" Aoi looked at Kakashi.

"I suppose it is." Kakashi replied going into deep thought.

"So do you guys like have a party and stuff?" Aoi asked rather excitedly.

"Yeah I think we do actually…" Kakashi still not really paying attention.

"Do you smell that?" Aoi said sniffing the air. She looked over at Huyu who nodded at her. "Danger…" She whispered. "Hotaru kill the fire!" She barked. A whoosh of cold wind and the place was dark.

"Everyone come towards me." Hotaru whispered. There was little circles of light coming from where Hotaru was sitting. Everyone edged closer towards her. Little fireflies were floating around Hotaru. "Everyone dull your chakra. Now." Hotaru commanded.

"I can't do that!" Naruto whined. Naruto was actually the only one who hadn't been on ANBU apart from Sakura who had very good chakra control and medical nin-jutsu skills. Yamato put his hand on Naruto's back and nodded at the team captain. "Thanks Yamato. Now we just need to keep quiet until it's all clear, alright?" Hotaru said in a hushed tone. "Himeko, Tsukiko and Kotori? We need your summons for surveillance." Each nodded and bit their thumbs and made the hand signs. A large puff of smoke appeared and in front of each person was their strange summon. Kotori had an owl, Himeko a lemur and Tsukiko had summoned two bats. The lemur reached up to Himeko and hung himself round her neck. They sent their animals out and settled back down in to their make shift seats.

"While we're hiding, now might be the time for Tsukiko to give everyone their stuff back." Aoi looked round smugly at Tsukiko who was glaring right back at her. Tsukiko got to her knees and tipped her sleeves out, a whole wave of items fell out of her sleeves, more stuff than looked humanly possible to get in them. _Hey is that my necklace? _Naruto felt around his neck and realized it was indeed his.

"What the hell is that about?" Naruto said rather loudly which earned him a slap on the back of the head from Kotori.

"She's a klepto…" Kotori explained. Naruto had a very puzzled look on his face. "Right," Kotori said with a sigh. " Tsukiko is a klepto maniac. It's means that she can't help herself stealing stuff."

"But she shouldn't be allowed to be a ninja then if she steals. It's wrong." Naruto complained.

"You like to argue a lot don't cha?" Aoi said with a smile. "She knows it's wrong. It's a sort of mental condition. She can't help herself no matter how much she tries. But if you think about it, it's helpful as a ninja we can get stuff off the opposition. You didn't realize she took your necklace and that's pretty hard not to notice…" Aoi went on happily.

"Urgh, but she's stealing from us! That's not right!" Naruto moaned.

"You like hearing yourself talk, don't you?" Aoi laughed as Naruto continued. "By the way Tsukiko where did you hide my sai's?" Aoi looked at her team mate with worried eyes. Those weapons were as much a part of her as her wolf and birds were. Tsukiko crawled over to her bag and pulled out the two weapons, glinting in the firefly light and set them down in front of Aoi. Tsukiko threw her arms over Aoi's neck and head and hugged her. She mumbled a sorry and retreated back to her seat.

"Argh! Aoi you're a complete disgrace." Kotori whined. "I only brushed your hair about an hour ago and now it looks worse than what it was." Kotori was looking very depressed. Everyone looked at Aoi and indeed her hair was flicking out in every possible angle.

After sitting in the cold darkness for a while the strange summons returned.

"The enemies have gone master." The owl hooted at Kotori. She smiled and the owl disappeared. The lemur hung itself on Himeko's neck and nuzzled into her. The bats hung themselves on a near by tree and went to sleep. Tsukiko got up and restarted the fire with a jutsu Naruto had never seen before. Everyone huddled round to get some warmth since they had been sitting with out it for ages. Kotori started digging in her bag again and this time emerged with a large tub. It looked bigger than her actual bag and Naruto wondered how big that bag really was on the inside.

"Aaaaoiiii….." Kotori whined pleadingly.

"Kotori, I can't believe you brought that crap with you." Aoi looked serious then laughed. "Give it here." Kotori passed the strange tub over to her team mate. Aoi sat it between her legs and pulled off the lid. There was a pink creamy liquid inside. Aoi pulled a face and started making several hand signs. She touched the surface of the liquid and it immediately froze and crystallised. She passed it back round to Kotori who pulled a spoon out of her pocket and attacked the frozen substance.

"Y'know? You could've left the lid on it. But you just like showing off don't you?" Kotori sneered through mouthfuls. It finally clicked in Naruto's head what the stuff was. Kotori had brought a tub of ice-cream and it had melted on the journey, so she had got Aoi to re-freeze it for her.

"What can I say….. I'm a 'show off' kinda person." Aoi retaliated in a calm voice. "At least I'm not the one getting cavities from eating at least six litres of ice-cream a day."

"So uh, Aoi do you really not like ice-cream?" Sai spoke up. The most he'd said all day perhaps? Sakura had been quite quiet as well.

"I don't really care much for sweet things." Aoi smiled. And on that note everyone decided there was nothing better to do but sleep.

Everyone was woken suddenly by screaming.

"STUPID BIRDS! What did I freakin' tell you? I don't fucking wake me up!"

"Aoi shut the hell up! They were only doing their job!" Kotori shouted at 'Black Aoi'

"Your right. I'm sorry birdies." Two swallows were cowering behind Kotori who was standing with her hands on her hips towering over a ball of white, grey and brown hair and fur. The lump shifted with a groan and Aoi appeared looking more bedraggled than usual. She coughed and went to pick up her birds.

"Mornin' boss." They both saluted.

"Right, Hokage-sama and Kazekage-sama have talked it over." Tsubame the girl swallow chirped.

"And they want you to eliminate them." Kousei the boy swallow added.

" And the Kazekage is sending one of his best as well." Tsubame and Kousei seemed to always end each others sentences.

"He should be here any minute now." And sure enough Aoi's ears picked up trees rustling under movement. She turned round and pointed at some bushes and trees.

"3,2,1" She said and as she predicted a body came flying through the foliage and landed in the spot she was pointing at.

"Kankuro!" Naruto exclaimed excitedly. Naruto ran over to his friend and glomped him.

"Hey, you big idiot. Get offa' me." Kankuro pushed the blonde to the side. "Right who's in charge here?"

"That would be me." Hotaru strolled forward. She put her hand out for Kankuro to shake. Squad Stella all introduced themselves to him and shook his hand apart from Aoi who bumped his knuckles and gave him a man hug. "Right people, team huddle. We're going for the kill today. Alright. Let's discuss the plan of action. Himeko?" Hotaru waved her hands gathering everyone in. Huyu the giant wolf had been sent away, with a "I'll call if I need you right?"

"Right, the plan of action is that Aoi is going to be our bait." Himeko started drawing in the dirt with a stick she marked a circle representing the enemy base and a cross to show Aoi infiltrating it. " Assuming that this goes to plan, Kakashi? You'll go in next followed by Hotaru. Kankuro? You and I will be guarding the perimeter in case any come from behind. Sai you'll be defending Sakura and Kotori we'll need medics no doubt." She threw a glance towards at Aoi who returned the gesture by sticking her tongue. "I'm guessing there is going to be some sort of ninja protection before we get there. So be on your guard and ready for a fight."

"You guys are so organized." Naruto said in awe.

"We were born for this." Aoi winked at him.

The teams were leaping through trees, bushes and vines. Kakashi and Aoi at the front as they knew where to go. Kakashi stopped abruptly on a tree swiftly followed by Aoi and the rest of the team. They all held their breath waiting for something. Suddenly Aoi jumped on Naruto pulling him to the ground just before a kunai with an exploding tag hit the tree where his head had been. They landed in an opening with Naruto flat out on his back and Aoi hunched over protecting him from the blast. She rolled off him and on to her feet. Suddenly the pair were surrounded by human and animal hybrids. Some with the top half animal and the bottom half human or the other way around. The sight of them made Aoi sick. Naruto jumped to his feet.

"Himeko! Do something!" Aoi screamed at her team mate.

"Right." Himeko shut her eyes and furrowed her brow. Aoi drew her sai's from their holsters. The hybrids started moving forwards.

"Sometime this century would be nice Himeko!" Aoi shouted stressed.

"ARGH! Kakashi, Sakura, Kankuro and Tsukiko. Go and fight. It's the only thing we can do at the moment." The ninja's jumped down from their trees to face their opponents. Kankuro summoned 'The Crow', Tsukiko brought out a number of weapons and Kakashi and Sakura got in to the fighting stances. The ninjas got through the first wave of hybrids fairly quickly, Naruto could see why Aoi was the best at Tai-jutsu. She was so good he was beginning to doubt if bushy brow could beat her or even worse bushy brow's sensei. The second wave of hybrids was a whole different ball game. They could use complex jutsus that many of the team had not seen before.

"Well I guess I'll have to use it." Kakashi sighed. He started pulling up his head band to reveal his sharingan.

"Hey! Kotori? Since he gets to use his funky eye. Can I use mine?" Aoi shouted pleadingly towards her team mate in the trees. "C'mon we could use it right about now?" Kotori rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fine!..."

"YAASSSS!" was the energetic call that was heard echoing. Aoi put her sai's away and raised her hands into the rat or Ne hand sign. Suddenly large whirls of air blew her hair up and her jacket was swirling about. The air around everyone was filled with powerful chakra. Her hair changed colour from subtle brown to shocking white and the part of her fringe that was previously red was now grey. Like her wolf's. Her eyes had also changed to shining emerald green. Naruto felt that there was a shift in her chakra and it had turned from violet to the colour of her eyes. Something had definitely changed about her being.

"Bring it on boys!" Aoi ran towards a large crowd of the enemy and used a combination of nin-jutsu incorporating both of her chakra types. The fight continued for not long after, many of the hybrids had been slaughtered and the rest had re-treated. After Naruto had finished ripping the last hybrid to pieces he turned back to his team mates. Aoi's form had shifted back to her normal self again. She was hunched over leaning against a tree with Sakura kneeling beside her. Aoi was holding her left arm and blood was seeping out from between her fingers. Naruto ran forward to see his damaged friend.

"Please Aoi, let me fix it. Look it's bleeding heavily." Sakura was pleading Aoi holding her hands out towards Aoi, who was just smiling and shaking her head. Aoi removed her hand away from where it was bleeding, and Naruto couldn't believe what he was seeing. The last of the gash was sealing itself up. Naruto blinked furiously and when he looked again it was just a pink scar beginning to fade. What kind of jutsu was she using? She could recuperate faster than Naruto.

After all the bumps and scratches were healed up Himeko cleared her throat and started her new battle plan.

" Right so now we have an idea of what we're up against. From what I've seen the one's with the human tops and animal legs are stronger than the others. It's those ones we have to watch for. We're going to stick with the old plan but instead of just Kakashi going in after Aoi, Sai and Naruto are going in too. Got it?" Everyone nodded. They started up their journey again, heading straight in to the heart of the enemy territory. The teams stopped in some near by bushes and watched a huge swarm of the hybrids go about in a make shift camp site. Aoi took a deep breath, smiled towards Naruto and headed straight towards the abyss. She was half way there when she went ridged and fell to the floor in convulsions and spasms. Kotori screamed Aoi's name and ran towards her team mate. Himeko screamed at Kotori and went to grab her. Just as Kotori reached Aoi her body did the exact same, the same with Himeko.

"Aoi!" Naruto screamed but Hotaru grabbed his wrists before he could go to her.

"No, Naruto you can't help her now. We have to retreat. They're lost in a gen-jutsu now and I'm not risking anymore lives. Everyone retreat now!..."

So their bait, their brains and one of their medics were left on the forest floor to meet their fate…..

**A/N: Haha I finished it. Review please….**


	4. Discovery?

**A/N: For Adam because his character is the polar opposite to him. Because Aida-chan is nice (sometimes… n-n) Also for Cara cause she's a bad ass at fighting guys that are bigger than her. Like a boss! Happy now R-chan? I'm making notification pop up in your e-mail! Please don't get Daddy to hurt me…. ): I'm in love with Adam's character! He has a whole creepy twisted back story. If I can't fit it in to the next one or two chapters he will definitely be getting his only chapter with his creepy back story. Review please! Now to find my post it notes with meanings on them. I should really staple them together or something. :L Oh and I'm in great depression because something killed my pumpkins :'(…**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Naruto because I would be a whole bucket full happier!**

**Huyu- Winter (forgot in the last chapter. Winter because he is white.)**

**Kaiya- Forgiveness**

**Masato- Justice **

"Are you sure we should just let her out like that?..."

"I'm confident in Aoi and her team to do what is right and to watch themselves.." The Hokage replied sternly.

"But letting some-one like her out could be disastrous… I mean the village is only now becoming normal again after the nine-tails attack."

"I've been letting Naruto out for years. The third trusted him, and so do I. Aoi is in good hands. Tenzo is there and so is Kotori in case anything goes pear shaped."

"But Aoi is nothing like Naruto. She isn't some-one who can be controlled if she changes. We had to learn that the hard way." Danzo passed Tsunade a folder with Aoi's ANBU photo stapled to the front and in big red letter 'CONFIDENTIAL'.

"What could she have possibly done that was so horrific?" Tsunade flipped open the page of the rather extensive folder.

"Once in 'ROOT' some of the kids were pushing her friend Kotori around because she was so little. One eventually pushed her to the ground and everyone started kicking her and Aoi snapped and she started to transform. Six tails emerged. She took out nine fully trained ANBU members, three children and put several both trained and un-trained ANBU into hospitalisation for several months…. She only stopped when Kotori got hurt by her hands….. Aoi was seven years old…." Danzo spoke in a grim tone. Tsunade and Shizune's faces pictures of complete horror.

_-oX-Xo-_

_Aoi_

_God my head hurts…._ I stood up and rubbed my eyes. Everything was dull and hazy. Heavy breathing was coming from some where. I looked about and realised I was in a maze of plants and vines. I started walking at a slow pace towards the breathing. Turning more and more corners. Little animals scattered as I walked through. I reached the end of a passage and it opened up to a large field. I looked over the landscape with groggy vision. _Oh shit! I know where I am._ I turned around to go back into the maze but the entrance of the passage I had left through was sealing itself up. I ran towards it and started clawing at the vines ripping them away but everything I did seemed to be in vain. The passage closed over and I was trapped.

"Aoi….." a breathy call came from behind me. I turned round my eyes widened in horror. My legs started moving on their own accord. As hard as I tried they would not stop moving. They were dragging me towards it. I closed my eyes wishing it was all a bad dream. My legs came to a stand still. I peeked through one eye. And sure enough I was standing on top of the large cage that contained my nightmare. I stood still on top of the twisting vines keeping my occupant at bay and hoped it would go away. I squeezed my eyes so tightly shut it began to hurt. A throaty laugh came from beneath me. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Now my dear… Why are we here this time? Did we stupidly get caught in a gen-jutsu?" _I just stood there, eyes closed, listening. And thinking. I did a lot of thinking. About a lot of things. Was the plan going well? Could Himeko work around my absence? About how Naruto was? About the hot Suna ninja. What was his name again? Oh I don't remember but it's not like it matters now, does it? No cause your probably getting cut up and the only thing stopping you dying is this horrific creature inside you._ "Now that's no way to talk about me is it?" I was brought back from my daydream by a voice that sent shivers up my spine and made my hair stand up on end. I had one last thought to myself about Naruto smiling. I smiled. "That Suna boy is nice. Isn't he?" My smile turned to a frown and I furrowed my brow in anger. "I bet he would hate you if he knew about me. Everyone would hate you. Only two of your so called friends know what you are. The rest are all clueless. What are you going to tell them when they find out what you are? A monster!"

"SHUT UP! Shut up, shut up, shut up!" I doubled over and covered my ears. But what use would that be? It was in my head. It was me. It saw my thoughts, I saw it's. I saw images of my friends running in horror, Kankuro looking at me in disgust, my loved ones leaving me. I opened my eyes and the scenery had changed. I saw Konoha. I was standing on the Hokage mountain. I was enjoying the view when all of a sudden a loud scream came from behind me. I turned and saw all my friends looking at me in shock. I looked down at myself and saw I had transformed, green bubbles were forming a layer around me. I could feel my canine teeth growing and poking my bottom lip. I could feel my tails growing.

"Tenzo! Help me!" I screamed towards him but he looked terrified. He started backing away slowly and then turned and ran. I could see all of my friends having the same thoughts. I could see them all leaving me, until it was only Kotori standing, my sister looking at me, tears spilling down her face…. I started walking towards her to comfort her. I had taken one step when she screamed at me.

"Don't come any closer! You're not my friend! You're not my sister! All you are is a weapon of mass destruction! A..a….a MONSTER!" and with that she turned and fled. Rage over came me. A distorted roar came rumbling from my chest and echoed over the mountains. I stopped thinking. I had lost all that was dear to me and I just let go. The mind of the wolf took over me. I rose up from my body and looked at it from above. The wolf had completely taken over. My body, was it's body now. I didn't even exist anymore. I watched the wolf take my body down to the village and cause havoc. I watched all tails emerge and waited for the tenth to appear and everything to come to an end. I could see it ripping the throats out of innocent by-standers. I saw many brave ninja's be killed. It was my ultimate nightmare. After all I had created to keep this demon locked away…..

_Kotori_

It was pitch black and in the middle of the darkness was a razor thin door, thinner that a strand of hair and it had absolutely no colour. Even from meters away I could feel it, it was horrible and it was all over my hands and it wouldn't go away. It felt like silk when you rub it the wrong way and made me want to throw up. _There's something behind the door and I know its there but I don't know what it is?_

_Himeko_

I opened my eyes to nothingness. I pulled myself up and sat cross-legged. I appeared to be sitting on nothing. But there was nothing here. I sat and thought to myself. I pondered what kind of gen-jutsu this could be? _Our opponent is very strong._ I sat for what seemed like an eternity of time. But only a milli-second as well. This was a good gen-jutsu. Well it could either be a gen-jutsu that makes you sit in nothingness and go insane like I am or it could be a gen-jutsu that makes you see your worst nightmare. I deducted this because I am afraid of nothing. No fears plague my mind. _I was trained like that and that's the way I'll be._

_-oX-Xo-_

Himeko slowly opened her eyes. Everything was fuzzy, she went to rub her eyes but found that her arms and hands were restricted. She blinked rapidly and her vision started to clear. She tried to move her feet but found that they were bound too. She thrashed around violently on the table that she was strapped to. She gave up with a huff and looked around. She was in a dimly lit room. There was another table across the room. There was another person strapped to that one. Himeko scrunched her eyes and saw Kotori's small body slumped on the table only being held up by her arms. She was still in the gen-jutsu probably. Himeko scanned the other side of the room and spotted an iron bar cage, and curled up in the middle of it was the idiot herself. Aoi….

"Ah you're awake, good…" A voice purred from the darkness in front of her. A man in a purple cloak and a panther taller than the man himself emerged from the darkness. "Now are you going to be good and co-operate?" The man stopped in front of Himeko and the panther slinked round the back of the board tickling Himeko's chin with it's tail. It's fur shined purple in the light. "From my reports, you two strapped to the tables are the most likely to give me what I want with out a fuss." The man brought a hand out from underneath his cloak and waved it in Kotori's direction. "However, I have had to fix many men, all because of your wild animal over there." He waved his other hand in Aoi's direction.

"She's not an animal!" Himeko shouted and spat in his face. The panther growled angrily.

"Leave it Kaiya." The man said gently and the panther went back to it's sulking. The way the man looked at the panther was strange. It almost looked lovingly. But not in the way Aoi looked at her wolf or the way Himeko looked at her lemur. It was almost human.

"Well it looks like I'm going to be here a while. I should probably introduce myself?" Himeko said in defeat. "I'm Himeko, and you are?" The man just looked at her. "It's good manners to introduce yourself before you ask from someone else's name." Himeko told him.

"Ah you're of good manners? My name is Masato, and she is Kaiya." The panther flicked it's tail over Himeko's nose.

Kotori was starting to come around. Her head was pounding and her wrists were sore. She groaned slightly.

"KOTORI!" Himeko shouted towards her friend. It was followed by hissing from the panther then a growl from somewhere else. Himeko looked over and Aoi was crouched in her cage growling with her imaginary hackles raised. The panther fell silent.

"So now you're all up? This may make things slightly harder. Oh well the more the merrier, right?"

"Master, you're getting off topic." The panther purred in a silk like voice. Masato nodded at the panther and smiled.

"Right, so I have brought you here to ask you about something very important." He turned his attention back to Himeko. The panther stalked over to Kotori which earned her a growl from Aoi. Kaiya just chuckled. "The Nine Tails… Where is it?" Kotori shot Himeko a look which Himeko understood completely. Aoi wasn't aware that Naruto was carrying the Nine Tails with in him. Kotori had thought it was for the best that Aoi didn't know about it.

"I don't know anything about the Nine Tails." Himeko replied. Masato just chuckled.

"LIAR!" He shouted at Himeko. There was a sudden and loud crack. Himeko looked at the man, he had brought out a whip from under his large cloak. Himeko noticed his eyes were blood shot and there was black shading under them. Lack of sleep Himeko thought to herself. "I'm not a patient man Himeko. I know you know about the Nine Tails! Tell me where it is!" and with that another crack of the whip but this time it was followed by a distorted scream as Himeko bit her lip trying not to scream. Aoi could see blood seeping through Himeko's net top.

"Leave her alone!" Aoi screamed. The panther lurched at Aoi's cage and clawed at the bars. Aoi jumped back and growled low in her throat at the beast.

"Don't shout at my master, or I'll rip your throat out small human." The panther hissed at Aoi.

"Let me out of here, and you can try it!" Aoi retaliated. The panther growled and clawed the cage again almost knocking over.

"Kaiya! Leave her! We may need her as leverage later!" The man shouted at the panther and went back to torturing Himeko.

_-oX-Xo-_

"Right guys… We're three men down." Hotaru looked grim. The teams had retreated leaving their team mates on the ground several hours ago. It was nightfall now and the three members of Squad Stella were being sorely missed. Tsukiko was busying herself making a fire. Sai and Sakura were huddling near the glowing starts of the it, talking. Hotaru was under a tree, eyes closed thinking and Kakashi and Yamato were standing deliberating what they should do next. Everyone seemed to be quite worried even Sai was frowning.

"I have an idea." Everyone turned round and looked at Sakura. With the sudden attention she blushed a little bit. "Ermm.. Well all we have to do is send someone else into the gen-jutsu but this time, not retreat because they enemy will have to take the wards down to get the ninja, right?" Hotaru took this information in and nodded. "Then when they take the wards down we sneak in and find the others?" Hotaru continued to nod and started biting her lip.

"Right, and the hybrids that were walking around, we've established, aren't very smart, so we probably could go un-detected for quite a while." Hotaru finished.

_-oX-Xo-_

The moon was high in the sky when Squad Stella and Team 7 reached the edge of the wards.

"Right, who wants to be the distraction?" Hotaru asked. Everyone looked at each other with pleading looks. Hotaru sighed and face palmed.

"Oh wait!" Yamato interjected. He made his wood clone and told him the plan. The clone nodded and walked out in to the open. He reached the point where Aoi had gone down, but he was still standing. He turned to face the group and shrugged.

"Hey what's happening?" Naruto whispered to Hotaru who waved a hand at him to keep quiet, while concentrating on Yamato's clone.

"I'm going to assume it's safe, but no-one follow until I give the signal right? It might not work on clones? If I go under continue with the plan and Kakashi is in charge, got it?" Everyone nodded while Hotaru started edging towards the clone. She reached the clone and put her hands on her hips. There wasn't even any of the hybrids around. She turned back to face her team and waved at them to move. They all stood by her side staring at the empty camp.

"Well this looks like it's gonna be easier than we thought it'd be." Naruto said proudly. Yamato slapped on the back of the head.

"Nothing is ever this easy Naruto…" Yamato sighed. They started sliding down the embankment towards where the camp site once was. There was still tents up, but they were disserted, flapping in the wind. They all walked around in little groups checking the place out. A small thump came from behind everyone, they turned around to see Sai flopped on the ground. Naruto started to snigger until Sakura punched him. Hotaru went over to check on him.

"I don't know how that happened, I seemed to have tripped over nothing." Sai said with slightly flushed cheeks. Hotaru dusted the floor around Sai's feet and found a metal hoop attached to a trap door.

"Looks like we know where they went." Hotaru said. She ripped the door open and looked down in to the darkness. "Two minutes." She hopped down. There was some thumping and distorted grunts. Two bodies were thrown up through the hole. Hotaru popped her head through the hole with a big grin on her face. " It's clear. Oh and some one bind them please?" They all jumped into the hole in the ground one by one. Everyone looked around at the dimly lit corridor. Hotaru scratched her head. "Well now we probably should split up but I'm not really for losing anymore of you." Murmuring and faint foots steps were coming from one end of the passage. "Everyone quietly come this way." Hotaru hissed to the teams.


	5. Fear?

All Himeko could see was black. She was still conscious and aware of what was going on around although she couldn't see it. She was also aware she was loosing blood fast. She had been whipped several times with a clawed whip. Masato had also used a strange device to punch holes in the webs of skin in between her fingers. The needle had been coated in some kind of poison, Himeko could feel it spreading through her body in what was left of her blood stream. Masato had long since given up torturing her since she wasn't giving him what he wanted. He had started interrogating Kotori which was not sitting well with Aoi at all. The cage that Aoi was concealed in was surrounded by some sort of jutsu, so that whatever kind of attack Aoi tried, it resisted and she couldn't escape to help. Kotori was screaming loudly. Masato hadn't used the whip on her though. Himeko hadn't heard it's distinct sound since she had been tortured.

"Let me outta' here you creep!" Aoi was screaming and clawing at the bars. She had transformed to black Aoi a long time ago and her green chakra was everywhere. It was a strong nin-jutsu if the cage was still holding up. Himeko's vision was starting to come back. Everything was blurry and she blinked furiously. Her eyes fell upon a disgusting sight. Masato had a grip on Kotori's hair holding her up and making her stretch out while Kaiya traced her claw over Kotori's skin slitting in open to reveal glistening red liquid. Kaiya was tracing Kotori's skeletal structure. Suddenly there was sound ripping through the cavern. Himeko turned her gaze towards Aoi's cage. Himeko's eyes widened in horror as she watched Aoi's skin being covered in a layer of green bubbles. Ears and tail started form and twitch.

"AOI!" Kotori screamed. Aoi swiped at the cage again and it crumbled to the ground. Aoi stood up properly and let another roar rumble through her chest and into the air. Himeko for the first time felt fear, for she didn't know what was happening to her friend.

"Leave her alone!" Aoi's voice was contorted with another.

"Master?" The panther worriedly purred to the man in the purple cloak. He could not speak. This appeared to be a jinchūriki, perhaps the nine tails. He couldn't be sure. But he had his chance he had what he had loathed after so many years. Revenge and justice were sweet in his mouth as he looked upon the tailed demon.

_oX-Xo_

A distinct roar ripped and echoed through the rock passageway. Squad Stella and Team 7 ran towards the noise. A crack of light started to become visible. Naruto and Kakashi pulled ahead towards the ray and crouched to peek through the opening.

"Ka..ka.. Kakashi, that looks like…" Naruto stammered.

"The nine-tails." Kakashi finished Naruto's statement in his calm voice. Gasps came from behind them, as the rest of the teams caught up and saw the events un-folding. The team's faces were pictures of complete and utter terror. The only ones who looked remotely calm were Kakashi and Yamato. Hotaru quietly cleared her throat and walked closer to the door.

"We're just gonna' have to burst in there and do what we can okay?" Everyone nodded and crouched into a pounce position. Hotaru pushed on the door slightly and it swung open letting dim light flood out into the dark corridor.

_-oX-Xo-_

The door suddenly burst open and Himeko's team were rushing through. Kaiya pounced away from Kotori and started attacking the ninjas that had invaded her master's torture room. She started swiping her massive paws at the man with the silver hair that defied gravity, and almost caught his left shoulder. Masato called upon several of his hybrid henchmen to occupy the foreign ninjas while he got a chance at the green demon that was forming in the middle of the rocky chamber.

_-oX-Xo-_

Naruto's mind was completely blank. He was mindlessly fighting the strange hybrids all the while he was focusing on Aoi who was transforming into another being. Was this someone else like him? Was this another tailed beast vessel? Which one could she be? How long would it be before she was completely un-controllable? Naruto slashed a couple more of the hybrids in half before he started thinking straight.

"Yamato! What do I do?" Naruto screamed to his 'sometimes' team captain. He started running towards Kotori through a sea of hybrids cutting them down like jungle plants to get to her.

"Naruto! If you can try to get her to calm down. She'll stop transforming!" Yamato shouted back as he used his wood style jutsu on some of the hybrids. Naruto nodded and started hacked away at Kotori's bonds. He tapped her face lightly to get her to stay conscious and picked her up bridal style.

"Com'on I need you awake." He tapped her a little more. "You're the only one who can help me with Aoi." Kotori's eyes fluttered and twitched from Naruto's touch. Her lids heavily slid open and she gazed up towards Naruto.

"Wha..what happened?" She stuttered.

"You blacked out and Aoi is transforming!" Naruto replied while jumping on tables and larger torture instruments to avoid having to fight with the hybrids. He landed close to Aoi who was lashing out at anything that came with in five feet of her. Naruto set Kotori down and propped her up against a table which had been toppled over to shield her from flying shrapnel from the battle around them. Naruto turned to face the beast. _Is__this__what__I__'__m__like?_ He thought to himself. He slowly inched himself forward towards Aoi. She turned to face him and snarled low in her throat. She was at the stage she didn't know who anyone was and her mind was just set to kill.

"Aoi? I know you're in there. If you can hear me? Aoi… I know what it's like… To have one inside of you… The loneliness is almost un-bearable. I know believe me, I do. But you have to search inside yourself, you need to come back to us Aoi. You can't let the demon take over. It's not who you are. I know that it makes you feel like crap Aoi, but that's why you have to show you're stronger than it. Please… please Aoi fight it. FIGHT IT!"

_-oX-Xo-_

"_Aria__… __My__lovely__what__do__we__have__here?__Sweet__heart__are__you__letting__the__voice__bully__you?__What__have__I__told__you__darling?__Just__tell__it__to__go__away__and__concentrate__really__hard.__Push__it__back__in__it__'__s__cage__Aria__… __You__can__do__I,__I__believe__in__you.__"_

"Mother? Is that you? Mother! Where are you going? Mom!" And then darkness

_-oX-Xo-_

"This is my opportunity. The boy is distracting the nine-tails." Masato thought to himself. He could see a sixth tail forming. If he was going to get his chance it would have to be soon, as would not be able to stab the beast properly if the sixth tail emerged. Masato pulled out a poisoned samurai and snuck up behind the beast and launched himself towards it's back.

_-oX-Xo-_

"AOI!" Naruto screamed as Masato was flying towards the green demon. The ear splitting sound of a wolf's shriek filled the cavern.


End file.
